Snohomish County’s Republican Party hopes 2009 brings the kind of change that makes the community believe in it again.
This is a party ridiculed in 2007 for running a professional magician for county executive and embarrassed in 2008 by selling $3 bills depicting Barack Obama in Arab headdress at the state fair.
It also had to recover this year from getting silenced when hackers knocked out its Web site in the heat of the fall campaign.
Those woes simply compounded the difficulties the party has encountered the last four years in recruiting candidates, raising money, reaching voters and winning elections.
Republicans and the Republican Party have seen their voice quieted and influence eroded in a county increasingly controlled by Democrats.
They hope Saturday will provide a spark for a turnaround.
Party leaders from the precincts to the executive offices will gather in Everett to decide who will run the party in 2009 and how it will be run.
Gloom is not in the forecast for what could prove a pivotal day in the party’s pursuit of retooling, refueling and rebounding.
“People are looking to the future, not whining about the past. They are excited about moving forward,” said party chairwoman Geri Modrell, noting the toughest part of her tenure “has been listening to how discouraged everyone is.”
She anticipated much complaining following the November election. The opposite happened.
“This election was good for us. It created new energy. It opened the eyes of so many Republicans and brought them out,” she said.
They are buzzing about Mike Hope’s victory in the 44th Legislative District. His upset of Democrat Rep. Liz Loomis is possibly the biggest electoral success for the GOP since Dino Rossi captured Snohomish County in 2004.
Many are still fired up by the 2008 presidential election, despite the outcome.
In particular, several supporters of presidential candidate Ron Paul are competing for leadership positions in the county party and want nothing less than to shake up the state Republican Party from its roots.
Michelle McIntyre of Everett is vying for a seat on the GOP’s statewide governing committee. She argues for the need to give activists greater say in choosing local candidates and deciding campaign strategies.
“We want to see our party turned around. We want to see our party winning again,” said McIntyre, a director of GOP Liberty Assembly, formed by onetime Paul backers. “Most importantly, we want to see our party standing on principle again.”
So, too, do those in Future Think, a blend of new and veteran GOP faces gathered up by Modrell to design a game plan for 2009. Their ideas will be on display Saturday, too.
“The problem is how to best build a strong grass-roots organization,” said Doug Roulstone, a participant and 2006 congressional candidate. “We can be successful if we get the organization and we get the right candidates.”
Political reporter Jerry Cornfield’s blog, The Petri Dish, is at www.heraldnet.com.
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